Qualified to Receive Abundant Blessing

Qualified to Receive Abundant Blessing

Though shame tries to sell us the lie that we are disqualified from blessing and deserving of lack, Jesus qualifies us for abundant blessing through His righteousness.

For you have experienced the extravagant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was infinitely rich, he impoverished himself for our sake, so that by his poverty, we could become rich beyond measure.
2 Cor. 8:9

We often believe that God wants to bless people abundantly, but we don’t necessarily appropriate that truth for ourselves on a personal level. We need to shift our thinking, because God is calling us to expect his blessings in our individual lives. If we don’t believe abundance is for us personally, it won’t become an expectation. Perhaps deep down, we don’t make it personal because we don’t think we are qualified for abundant blessing. Shame tells us our disobedience warrants the curse of poverty. Derek Prince wrote in The Divine Exchange, “Poverty is a curse. God’s provision is abundance.” The Deuteronomy 28 excerpt below explains how under the old covenant obedience led to abundant blessing, while disobedience led to the curse of poverty.

CURSE of Poverty: Deut 28:45-47 “All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you… hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you.”

BLESSING of Abundance: Deut 28:11-13 “The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail.”

When I read this chapter, I have a really hard time putting myself in the blessing category because I am keenly aware of my imperfect performance. In light of the law, my sin disqualifies me from even hoping for a blessing. Shame whispers, “You deserve lack in this area because of xyz.” But the truth is Jesus fulfilled the law and destroyed the poverty curse on the cross. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you have experienced the extravagant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was infinitely rich, he impoverished himself for our sake, so that by his poverty, we could become rich beyond measure.” While our disobedience warrants the curse, Jesus’s righteous obedience imparted to us through salvation brings us out from under the old covenant curse of poverty and into the new covenant blessing of abundance. Jesus qualifies us for abundant blessing—not by works or perfect adherence to rules, but by grace, and grace alone.

We read in scripture that Jesus perfectly and completely fulfilled the poverty curse (Deut. 28:45-47) on the cross. He was made a fool—mocked and jeered tirelessly. He was hungry and thirsty, even asking for a drink while hanging on the cross. He was naked, and the soldiers cast lots for his robe. He was in need of all things, even a tomb. Jesus’ fulfillment of the poverty curse is yet another demonstration of the covenantal exchange that happened on the cross. Under the new covenant of Christ, we are afforded the blessings of abundance in view of his righteousness.

We can expect to flourish because Christ destroyed the curse of poverty on the cross and imparted to us the abundant blessings of his righteousness! He endured absolute poverty on the cross so we “could become rich beyond measure” in every area of our inner and outer lives.

Prayer

Jesus, thank you for so perfectly fulfilling the law and bringing us under the new covenant. You are my way-maker, my provider, and my savior. Lord, I believe that your blood was powerful enough to wash away my sin and shame. I believe you have accomplished a divine exchange of my worst for your best, my disobedience for your obedience, my lack for your blessing. Thank you for your overflowing, undeserved grace in my life. I look with expectancy to receive an influx of hope, joy, patience, kindness, provision, and health in the areas of my life that appear lacking. It is for your glory and by your blood I ask for and receive these things. Amen.